Adding layers in painting

After far too many pages of verb tenses, K and I left our study abroad classroom for a late-afternoon lunch in southern Kazakhstan. She was surprised at the sheer size of the margarita, and I was delighted with her expression.

Above, you can see how I progressed:

Sketching in pencil over an ill-fated flower painting.

Blocking in the color.

Starting on facial expressions and hair.

Dear Lord, what’s happened to this face?

I widen the face, and add white eyebrows, apparently. I got fed up and left it for a week.

Honestly, I should have stopped here. It’s beautiful. But it doesn’t look like my friend. So I forged on.

Just as things were shaping up, I realized the eyes, nose, and mouth all needed to move left. Oops.

I got the teeth and eyes… and I don’t want to mess up anything else! So I may come back and even out the shadows a bit, but I’m pretty happy with it.